A brother and sister who set up a small business selling eggs are determined to bounce back after their entire brood of hens was killed by a mink.

Last Saturday morning, the Patrick family were doing what they do every day, letting the hens out, but they were to be shocked when the hens did not appear.

Alfie (7) and Ella (5) Patrick, from Ballycassidy, bought the hens at the start of the year and had built up a successful business.

All destroyed

But this was all destroyed when an mink broke in, killing around 70 hens.

“They had a right wee business going on and they had a pile of customers and were making a sight of money,” said their father, Richard.

“Alfie was on done deal and he was going to get more sheep and he said what about a few hens so I let him at it.

“They had an honesty box outside the house and people would have come and collected them. They did deliveries and they brought eggs in to school for teachers.”

Business was so good for the Alfie and Ella that Patrick joked there was a time he was not allowed to eat eggs at home because they were all for the customers!

Recalling what happened on Saturday, Richard said: “We usually let them out in the morning and Saturday morning past we opened the door and the hens didn’t come out so we walked in. There could have been 70 hens dead.”

It was devastating for Alfie and Ella but their father said it was not going to stop them.

“They were off their heads but it’s not going to stop them, they are going to get it up and going again.

“They are determined to get back in business.”

It is a business that has built up quite a customer base, and when news filtered through of what happened, there were messages of support and offers of donations to help the brother and sister get back on track.

“Most of the customers have been looking to give donations to get them up and going again but we said don’t worry about it we’ll get them going.

“To be fair the support they have got has been unreal.

Hopefully in the new year we’ll get them going again,” added Richard.